GDP Became Our God: The Religion of Economic Growth | Tim Jackson

What if the obsession driving the global economy is not a strategy, but a religion? In this episode, Professor Tim Jackson (University of Surrey, author of Prosperity Without Growth, Post Growth, and The Care Economy) argues that GDP has filled "the God-shaped hole" left in the 20th century, becoming a creed we recite without questioning. Sam and Tim explore where this obsession came from, why technology alone cannot decouple growth from environmental damage, and how a different organising principle, care, could replace growth as the engine of the economy. Tim makes the case that prosperity was never about income. It was about health, balance, and the ability to thrive within limits. Drawing on Wangari Maathai, Ubuntu, and the autonomic nervous system as a metaphor for governance, he reframes the role of rich countries: not to help the Global South, but to take their foot off the accelerator. A conversation about economics, philosophy, indigenous wisdom, and the kind of business worth building.